Israel asks for delay in West Bank outpost demolition

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has asked the country's Supreme Court to delay the court-ordered evacuation of an illegal West Bank outpost slated for later this year.

The state asked the court for a seven-month extension on Monday.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the Amona outpost was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished by Dec. 25. The impending evacuation has threatened to destabilize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line coalition.

Pro-settler lawmakers have tried to find a legal loophole to keep the outpost in its place, a move Israel's attorney general says is unconstitutional.

Amona is the largest of about 100 West Bank outposts built without permission but generally tolerated by the government. These are in addition to 120 settlements that Israel considers legal.